Statement on the Killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero
Six days ago, we called for an independent investigation into the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an ICE agent in Houston. On Monday, ICE killed again. An ICE agent fatally shot Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 26-year-old father from Colombia, outside his family's home in Biddeford, Maine. [1] Like Mr. Salgado Araujo, Mr. Durán Guerrero was not the target of the operation that killed him. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin later told Sen. Angus King that agents were looking for someone else. [2] His wife and 3-year-old daughter witnessed the aftermath. [3] Stockton Democrats Together (SDT) extends our condolences to his family, as we did to Mr. Salgado Araujo's family last week.
Two fatal shootings of men who were not even the intended targets, in the span of a week, is not a coincidence, and it is not acceptable. SDT condemns ICE's pattern of lethal force against people who posed no demonstrated threat to agents. We are alarmed that this pattern is accelerating rather than slowing.
As in Houston, the agent in Biddeford was not wearing a body camera, so there is no direct video of what happened before the shooting. [1] DHS initially said Mr. Durán Guerrero was in the country illegally with a final removal order. His family and immigrant-rights organizations say he had legal work authorization and a Social Security number. [2] Within 24 hours of his death, DHS ordered ICE agents nationwide to pause most vehicle pursuits and traffic stops, and announced it would accelerate body camera distribution. This is a striking, if implicit, acknowledgment that the agency's own tactics contributed to two preventable deaths in a single week. [3, 4] This is now at least the 11th fatal shooting involving ICE agents since January 2025. [1]
This is not a distant problem for Stockton. Ours is one of the most diverse cities in California: 45.6% of our residents are Hispanic or Latino, 20.8% are Asian, and more than one in four of us — 26.5% — were born outside the United States, nearly double the national average. [5] What happened in Houston and Biddeford could happen here, to people we know. Silence from our own elected officials is not a neutral position. It is an absence our community will notice.
SDT respectfully invites Stockton's elected leadership — Mayor Christina Fugazi, Vice Mayor Jason Lee, and the full City Council — along with the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors, to join us in speaking out on this pattern of lethal force, and to help amplify this statement so our community hears from its own representatives as well as from us.
We extend the same invitation to State Senator Jerry McNerney, Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom, and Congressman Josh Harder, who represent Stockton in Sacramento and in Washington, to share this statement and use their platforms to press for the congressional hearings we have already requested. [6] In a moment like this, our community looks to its elected leaders for visible leadership, and we hope to hear where each of them stands.
We also ask our partner organizations — the San Joaquin County Democratic Central Committee, the California Democratic Party, and chartered Democratic clubs across the state — to join us in speaking out, and to help this statement reach further than we can alone.
We renew the calls we made last week: that DHS's Office of Inspector General and the FBI investigate independently of ICE's chain of command and release all video and forensic evidence in both the Houston and Biddeford shootings without delay; that Congress hold hearings on ICE's pattern of use-of-force incidents nationally; and that local and state cooperation with ICE never extend to shielding federal conduct from independent review.
If this leaves you angry, you are not alone — and that anger, channeled together, is exactly what accountability requires. Grief and outrage that stay private change nothing. Organized together, they have built every real gain this movement has won. If you are not yet a member, join us. Come to a meeting. Help us organize the pressure that turns statements like this one into hearings, policy change, and real oversight. Our next meeting is July 27th, and we would like to see you there.
Two families are now grieving deaths that even ICE's own leadership could not fully justify. Our elected leaders, at every level, owe our community more than silence.
Sources
[1] Bangor Daily News, "Here's What We Know About the Fatal ICE Shooting in Biddeford," July 14, 2026. https://www.bangordailynews.com/2026/07/14/york/york-police-courts/biddeford-maine-ice-shooting-joan-sebastian-guerrero-explainer/
[2] NBC News, "Man Fatally Shot by ICE Officer in Maine Wasn't the Target of Arrest Warrant, Senator's Spokesman Says," July 13, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/biddeford-maine-ice-investigation-fatal-shooting-rcna587279
[3] CNN, "Live Updates: ICE Shootings in Biddeford, Maine, and Houston Spark Outcry," July 14, 2026. https://us.cnn.com/2026/07/14/us/live-news/ice-shootings-maine-houston
[4] NBC News, "ICE Pauses Most Vehicle Stops as Pressure to Arrest Is Blamed for Fatal Shootings," July 14, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ice-told-stop-pursuing-people-cars-pressure-arrest-blamed-fatal-shooti-rcna587458
[5] U.S. Census Bureau, 2020–2024 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Stockton, CA (via Census Dots and Data USA). https://www.censusdots.com/race/stockton-ca-demographics
[6] San Joaquin Council of Governments, "State and Federal Officials." https://www.sjcog.org/384/State-and-Federal-Officials
